Economy
Hartz protest
AN anti-logging protest in Tasmania’s South has signalled the end to an election campaign ceasefire in the state’s forests.
After weeks of peaceful protests, activists used the cover of darkness to secretly block a new logging road with a tripod yesterday morning the first illegal protest in months.
Ali “Possum” Alishah was harnessed to the makeshift 6m wood and rope structure, risking his safety as well as arrest in a bid to protect the Southern Forests from logging.
Forestry Tasmania said the timing of the protest made no sense because the road was almost completed and logging was only months away.
Forestry spokesman Ken Jeffreys accused the activists of waving a white flag during the election campaign to avoid drawing unfavourable attention to political supporters.
But the Huon Valley Environment Centre, which staged the protest, said it was unaware of the controversial road’s construction until last week, almost three months after work began.
“We were running a campaign on wood-fired power stations during the election campaign, as well as holding community open days in the Weld Valley, and we were only aware of this [road] in the past week,” conservationist Will Mooney said from the protest site yesterday.
“I don’t think it would have reflected badly on the Greens anyway.”
Mr Jeffreys said he was baffled because the protest was not halting construction of the road or logging in the area.
He said only four hours’ work remained on the 1.8km road extension, which would allow access to three forestry coupes near Hartz Mountain National Park.